Using the Power Dialer

This feature is only available to users on the Professional or Business plan.

The Power Dialer feature automatically dials each lead within a Smart View for you. Once initiated, it starts making calls to each lead in a Smart View and automatically connects you to the call once someone picks up. Using the Power Dialer, you save time and can call more leads per hour.

Once the call ends and you've completed writing notes and updating the Lead, the Power Dialer will automatically move you to the next in the list. There's no need to go back into the Smart View; the Power Dialer will call each lead until somebody answers.

Since the Power Dialer is controlling which Leads are being called, multiple people on your team can be using the Dialer with the same Smart View simultaneously and two reps will never call the same lead by accident. The Dialer will automatically look for new Leads to call if the Smart View gets updated with new leads.

Starting a Power Dialer session

To start a Power Dialer session, go to any saved Smart View and you'll see a button at the top that says "Call":

Once you click "Call", the Power Dialer will begin a session and start dialing the first Lead in the list, until all leads have answered. It will make calls in the same order the Leads are listed in the Smart View, excluding Leads that have been called within the last hour.

Continue reading below for a more detailed explanation of the exact ordering of how leads are called.

During a Power Dialer session

Once the Power Dialer starts calling the first Lead, you'll hear a tone in your headset. You'll also see the current state of the call, and the Lead that is being called:

Once a call connects, the call note box is available for you to type notes and carry on with a call as you normally would. Once you complete the call, the Power Dialer will see if you're still typing and remain paused until you finish:

Once you're done typing, you can still pause the Power Dialer session by clicking the pause button. You can update the Lead Status, add/edit Opportunities or Tasks, and then resume the Power Dialer by clicking "Call next lead" at the top right.

Resuming an existing Power Dialer session

As you go throughout the day, other tasks will grab your attention. We built the Power Dialer to make pausing and resuming your Dialer session as simple as possible.

When you pause a Dialer session, the Call Bar will remain on the screen as you navigate through different parts of Close.io. You can remove the Call Bar any time by clicking the "X" that appears on the left of the "Call next lead" button on the right.

To resume a Power Dialer session, navigate to the Smart View and click on the Call button. That will resume the existing Power Dialer session by default. You can also click the down arrow next to the Call button and select "Resume” or "Reset & call again":

Selecting "Reset & call again" will erase the Power Dialer's history of which leads have already called and answered, and starts calling the list of Leads in the Smart View from the top again.

Which contact or phone numbers from a lead does the Power Dialer call?

Currently, the Power Dialer will only dial the first phone number listed on a lead.

In the future, we may have options for attempting to auto-dial multiple contacts or multiple phones per contact. If you see the Power Dialer is calling the wrong number for a particular lead, you should be able to hang up. That will cause the Power Dialer to pause. Then you can manually click on the correct phone number, and then resume the Power Dialer when you're ready to move to the next Lead.

Which leads are called, and in what order

A quick summary of how the Power Dialer chooses which lead to call next:

The Power Dialer calls leads Leads in the order they appear in the Smart View.

The Power Dialer will continue calling a Smart View until all the leads have been answered (by a person or voicemail).

The Power Dialer prioritizes uncalled leads over called-but-unanswered leads.

The Power Dialer won't ever call the same lead within an hour.

Read on for more granular details.

Leads entering and leaving a Smart View

The Power Dialer checks the Smart View every 5 minutes or less for Leads entering or leaving based on its query. Leads get slotted in at the appropriate spot based on your Smart View's sort parameter.

When a lead enters at the top of the Smart View, it will be called next. When a lead enters at the end of the smart view, it will be called after the dialer attempted to call all other leads. Similarly, leads that are no longer in the Smart View will be removed from the call queue.

For example, if you have "sort:-created" (newer Leads appearing first) as part of the search query on your Smart View, the newest Lead will automatically be one of the next Leads that gets called.

The Power Dialer keeps calling each Lead until all have answered

When a call is connected to a sales person, the Power Dialer won't call that Lead again since it had an answered call. An exception happens when the Lead leaves and re-enters the Smart View while the Power Dialer is running. In this case, the Lead will be considered new and will be handled as if it was never called again.

For example, consider a Smart View with the query `lead_status:potential and not called < "4 hours ago"`. Leads in this Smart View disappear from the Smart View after the Power Dialer called them and then reappear after 4 hours. These leads will be queued to be called by the Power Dialer every 4 hours until the lead status is changed.

Uncalled Leads are given priority over called-but-unanswered Leads

The Power Dialer prioritizes uncalled leads over leads it has called but the lead did not pick up.

For example, in a large lead list, when calling leads for over an hour, previously called but unreached leads will only be called after all other leads were called even if the one hour blocking period is over and they're ranked higher in the Smart View. This doesn't apply to leads that left and re-entered the Smart View, which are scheduled for immediate calling.

After all leads are called, the Power Dialer will queue any previously unreached leads for calling, and they will be called again in the order they are in the Smart View (unless they are subject to the 1h blocking period). Leads that are entering the Smart View will still be prioritized.

Leads won't be called twice within an hour by the Power Dialer

A lead that was called is "blocked" for a period of one hour so it won't be called again within that period.

An exception are leads that leave and re-enter the Smart View. They will be queued for immediate calling right after the Power Dialer detects that they've re-entered the Smart View.

When a user skips a lead while it's ringing (by clicking “Call Next Lead”, or hanging up the call in any way before it connects), the lead will be blocked for one hour and then queued again for calling.

If a temporary error occurs when calling a lead, it will be retried the next time the Smart View is refreshed (i.e. within 5 minutes). If the lead can't be called due to a calling restriction (e.g. an international or blocked number), it will be blocked for an hour until the dialer looks at that lead again.

You can increase this "1 hour" block by simply customizing your Smart View query to include not called < "12 hours ago".

How many Leads are called at a time?

Only one call is made per sales rep. The Power Dialer helps you "power through" a lead list by automatically calling the next lead without delay. There is no risk of dropping or abandoning a call when someone answers.

In the near future, we will also offer a Predictive Dialer to help sales teams reach more people by making more calls at once than are active sales reps enabled. If you're with large sales team interested in Beta testing an early version of our Predictive Dialer, get in touch with us at dialer@close.io.

Smart View suggestions for the Power Dialer

For the Power Dialer, think of a Smart View as a "call list". You want to create Smart Views, or call lists, that make it easy for your team to call the right Leads.

Here are some suggestions:

Leads with the Lead Status "Potential", that have no opportunities:

lead_status:"Potential" opportunities:0

Leads that have the "Leadgen Team" value on the "Lead Source" Custom Field, have not been called in the last 5 days, have no opportunities, and are not Lead Status "Bad Fit" or "Customer":

Leaving voicemails

​​The Power Dialer is set to automatically move to the next lead after 32 seconds of ringing without someone (or an answering machine) picking up.

This ring timeout is long enough so that you can leave a voicemail (or voicemail drop) in the significant majority of cases. However if an answering machine doesn't pick up before then, you won't have an opportunity to leave a voicemail.

Then, with any Lead that requests to be called at another time, you set the "Next Call Date" Custom Field to that time and the Power Dialer will call the Lead once you hit that time.

To make sure any Leads that requested to be called back are called by the Power Dialer with top priority, add the following to your Smart View query:

sort:-"Next Call Date"

Dialer Settings

“Reduced ring time" option

By default, the Power Dialer will ring the first Contact on each Lead for 32 seconds. This will let the call ring long enough to play the voicemail greeting, giving you time to leave a voicemail message or pre-recorded Voicemail Drop.

The “Reduced ring time” option is intended to avoid voicemail inboxes. When you turn the “Reduced ring time” option on, the Power Dialer will reduce the ring time down to 20 seconds, decreasing the chance of hitting someone’s voicemail inbox. Since you’re spending less time per call, your call volume and reach rates should increase dramatically.

Invite your team to a Power Dialer session with share links

If your team is making calls out of the same Smart View with the Power Dialer, you can share a link that takes them directly to the Dialer session. Copy the session link at the bottom of the Dialer Settings popover and paste it into an email or Slack channel to rally your team.